SEED Fellowship
Lead Research Organisation:
Brunel University London
Department Name: Brunel Design School
Abstract
The SEED fellowship focuses on scoping and developing a new UK-China creative industries research and innovation hub through scoping sectors, engaging stakeholders, empowering participants, and developing future-focused visions and strategies. This supports the AHRCs long-standing ambition to bring together China-UK creative industry stakeholders to develop research-industry partnerships for long term collaboration. Through a programme of scoping studies including research, workshops and creative activities the fellowship aims to understand the needs of, barriers to, and opportunities for creative industry practitioners and researchers to develop cross-cultural and collaborative projects between the UK and China. This will enable us to develop a strategic vision and an evidence-informed delivery plan for the UK-China creative industries research and innovation (R&I) hub to be launched in 2024.
We aim to strengthen existing partnerships and expand new R&I partnerships for the scaling up of sustained collaboration between the UK and China over the next 5-15 years. Our engagement activities will build a community of businesses, academics and industry members that are well trained and supported to enable them to build successful working relationships. The activities of the fellowship will build the foundations of a centre of excellence for creative debate, knowledge sharing, training, facilitating partnerships and accessing expertise that can be further strengthened through the future Hub's activities.
Unique to this fellowship is the Empower programme which will provide seed funding for UK-China projects that produce creative outputs, generate productive connections and test the effectiveness of the resources being produced by the fellowship team. Through the development of resources, including a toolkit, we will support cross-cultural collaboration which will be showcased through mixed-media content on social media platforms and our website. The model for this fellowship draws together expertise from across the breadth of the creative industries - in academia, business, policy and skills training from both the UK and China - in working groups, an Advisory Board and partnerships to ensure diverse needs and requirements are captured and embedded in the plan of the hub.
The fellowship will facilitate the launch and implementation of the hub in 2024. The research, sector knowledge and liaison with the research and innovation community are all focussed on developing a strong future UK-based Hub to support the work of the China-based Hub. The future Hub will be well equipped and fully resourced to act as a docking station for accessing knowledge and expertise; a centre of excellence for training creative entrepreneurs with cultural sensitivity; a club for intelligence gathering, creative debate and showcasing to the Hub's community and the general public, an accelerator for business research, innovation and growth, as well as business to business engagement; a facilitator of collaborative and interdisciplinary research partnerships; and a platform to create the conditions for sustained and productive partnerships between the creative industries in the UK and China.
We aim to strengthen existing partnerships and expand new R&I partnerships for the scaling up of sustained collaboration between the UK and China over the next 5-15 years. Our engagement activities will build a community of businesses, academics and industry members that are well trained and supported to enable them to build successful working relationships. The activities of the fellowship will build the foundations of a centre of excellence for creative debate, knowledge sharing, training, facilitating partnerships and accessing expertise that can be further strengthened through the future Hub's activities.
Unique to this fellowship is the Empower programme which will provide seed funding for UK-China projects that produce creative outputs, generate productive connections and test the effectiveness of the resources being produced by the fellowship team. Through the development of resources, including a toolkit, we will support cross-cultural collaboration which will be showcased through mixed-media content on social media platforms and our website. The model for this fellowship draws together expertise from across the breadth of the creative industries - in academia, business, policy and skills training from both the UK and China - in working groups, an Advisory Board and partnerships to ensure diverse needs and requirements are captured and embedded in the plan of the hub.
The fellowship will facilitate the launch and implementation of the hub in 2024. The research, sector knowledge and liaison with the research and innovation community are all focussed on developing a strong future UK-based Hub to support the work of the China-based Hub. The future Hub will be well equipped and fully resourced to act as a docking station for accessing knowledge and expertise; a centre of excellence for training creative entrepreneurs with cultural sensitivity; a club for intelligence gathering, creative debate and showcasing to the Hub's community and the general public, an accelerator for business research, innovation and growth, as well as business to business engagement; a facilitator of collaborative and interdisciplinary research partnerships; and a platform to create the conditions for sustained and productive partnerships between the creative industries in the UK and China.
Organisations
- Brunel University London (Fellow, Lead Research Organisation)
- Newcastle University (Collaboration)
- Jiangnan University (Collaboration)
- Tongji University (Project Partner)
- Plus X (Project Partner)
- Shanghai International Studies Universit (Project Partner)
- Zhejiang University (Project Partner)
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Project Partner)
- Designing Science Ltd (Project Partner)
- Nanjing University (Project Partner)
- Xiangyu Medical (Project Partner)
- LEO Design (Project Partner)
- Association of British Chinese Professor (Project Partner)
- Creative Access (Project Partner)
- Shanghai Documentary Academy (Project Partner)
- UK-China Media and Cultural Studies Asso (Project Partner)
- Shanghai Tsinghua Int innovation centre (Project Partner)
- China Industrial Design Museum (Project Partner)
- Creative UK (Project Partner)
- UK-China Film Collaboration Project Ltd (Project Partner)
- Donghua University (Project Partner)
- Renfrew Group (Project Partner)
- West London Business Ltd (Project Partner)
- Design Magazine (Project Partner)
- Ruixu Art Limited (Project Partner)
Publications
You F
(2024)
Design interventions for sustainable eating: Case studies across UK and China
in Advanced Design Research
| Description | The most significant achievements from the UK-China Creative Industries Research and Innovation Hub Fellowship Award (i.e., SEED Fellowship) in the first ten months are the direct engagement with 350+ stakeholders in the UK and China through workshops, online surveys, interviews/focus groups and working group meetings; they contributed to the requirement capture and co-design of the future hub. The objectives were largely met (and sometimes exceeded the targets.) The online survey took longer than expected, but we have achieved 100+ responses by now: 60 participants from China and 40 from the UK, and they have covered all the nine sectors of creative industries. The findings are being captured by two upcoming special issues of journals (i.e., Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art - submitted on the 18th March 2024; and Art Management - to be submitted in early April 2024), and they will be used by the UKRI/AHRC to plan for the future hub. |
| Exploitation Route | The accessible project report (as an e-book with ISBN) will be made publicly available to inform creative industries sectors and policy makers. The SEED fellowship team will work with AHRC to plan the UK-China Creative Industries Research and Innovation hub based on the evidence and findings from the project. |
| Sectors | Creative Economy Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education Leisure Activities including Sports Recreation and Tourism Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| URL | http://www.creativeindustrieshub.com/ |
| Description | The UK-China Creative Industries Research and Innovation Hub Fellowship is still ongoing, and we have observed impacts on creative industries sectors in China and the UK (e.g., the increased awareness of the opportunities for collaboration, and good practice of UK-China collaboration) and on policy making (e.g., UKRI has been involved in the stakeholder engagement and the evidence gathered will be used in planning the future hub) |
| Sector | Creative Economy |
| Impact Types | Cultural Economic Policy & public services |
| Description | Jiangnan University |
| Organisation | Jiangnan University |
| Country | China |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We organised a creative industries stakeholder workshop at Jiangnan University and engaged multiple sectors from the region and beyond |
| Collaborator Contribution | Jiangnan university has helped us recruit participants from creative industries and they provide an excellent venue and service to the workshop |
| Impact | We produced a video of the workshop which can be reviewed from http://www.creativeindustrieshub.com/activities/workshop-in-wuxi-september-8th-2023/ |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | collaboration with the Creative Policy and Evidence Centre https://pec.ac.uk/ |
| Organisation | Newcastle University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The SEED fellowship team has established a collaboration with the ThinkTank CreativePEC. We have met multiple times through online meetings to share our insights into creative industries. We helped CreativePEC to expand its international advisors committee, and translation of its report 'the state of creativity' from English to Chinese (British Council also provided support). We also helped CreativePEC to disseminate its report through our project website and social media. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Director of the CreativePEC did an interview with us and edited the transcription for publication; he also recommended a colleague to speak to our final conference. |
| Impact | The interview with CreativePEC's director Hasan Bakhshi will be published as a conversational piece in the special issue of the Journal of contemporary Chinese Art: Creative China This is multidisciplinary, and the disciplines involved are design and economics |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Stakeholder engagement workshops (seven in-person workshops, and two online workshops in China and the UK, with industry, government sectors and academic institutions) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Over 100 participants from industry, government sectors, professional bodies and academic institutions attended the stakeholder engagement workshops in the UK and China, through in-person workshops (100+ participants) and online workshops. The participants covered all the nine sectors of creative industries; they contributed to the shaping of the UK-China creative industries research and innovation hub from needs capture, to specifications of the functions and activities, to the design of the models of operation. These co-design activities support evidence-based development of the future hub. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023,2024 |
| URL | http://www.creativeindustrieshub.com/activities/ |
| Description | Visit to Manchester to meet representatives from China Institute, Manchester Confucius Institute, Manchester University, Manchester City Council, and Creative Manchester. This has attracted two participants to our further workshops. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | The SEED fellowship team were invited by Manchester University to share insights into the UK-China hub in November 2023. The agenda is as follows UK-China Creative Hub Roundtable Discussion at the University of Manchester Date: 17th November 2023 Venue: Manchester China Institute, University of Manchester Participants - Professor Hua Dong, Fellow of the UK-China Creative Hub - AHRC Representatives - Representatives from the UK-China Creative Hub Working Group - Director of the Manchester China Institute - Director of Creative Manchester - Deputy Director of the Manchester Confucius Institute - Principal Policy Officer, Strategy and Economic Policy, Manchester City Council - Policy Officer- International Policy and Partnerships, Manchester City Council - Senior Lecturer in Economics, University of Manchester - Presidential Fellow in comparative & International Business, AMBS. - Lecturer in Cultural Policy and Governance Roundtable Agenda 1. Research Insights from UK-China Creative Hub Fellow Time: 1:00 pm - 1:30 pm - Project background and Preliminary findings - Current activities and future opportunities - Future prospects of the hub 2. Sharing Manchester's Experiences in UK- China Collaboration Time: 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm - Challenges encountered in UK-China collaboration - Successful strategies and best practices - Policy implications and recommendations Coffee break (2:30 pm - 2:45 pm) 3. Focused Discussion Time: 2:45 pm - 3:45 pm - Critical resources and knowledge in UK-China collaboration - Navigating the dynamics of changing political landscapes - The role and format of the UK-China Creative Hub The round table discussion has attracted two participants to our further workshop and sparked discussions on the hub operational and monitoring models. They were also inspired by the working sheets method we utilised in the workshop and said they would learn to use the method to gather data. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | http://www.creativeindustrieshub.com/news/round-table-discussion-at-the-university-of-manchester/ |
| Description | engagement with six working groups |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We formed six working groups, led by 8 co-leads who are ECRs from Universities in the UK (5) and China (3). They organised working group meetings and workshops to engage stakeholders from creative industries on specific themes, such as responsible research and innovation, small and medium sized enterprises. These working groups contributed to the deeper understanding of the specific aspects of the future Uk-China hub |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023,2024 |
| URL | http://www.creativeindustrieshub.com/activities/rri-working-group-meeting-26th-june-2023/ |